This description relates to subscribing to content.
Content, such as music tracks or pictures or ring tones are distributed in various ways, for example, as free promotions, pay-as-you-go for each item of content, rental, or subscription. Sometimes content is packaged with other products such as software or monthly telephone service. The term “content” is meant to include, for example, software, text, images, videos, telephone ring tones, or any other digital items. The distribution of the content may occur in any manner such as in a tangible form, for example, on a storage medium like a CD or a flash memory, or electronically through wired or wireless communication channels such as the Internet, dial up telephone lines, cellular telephone, Bluetooth, or satellite, to name only a few.
In one specific example of a subscription model, a subscriber might be given the option of acquiring, e.g., only one item of content each week and be charged monthly for four items, whether or not four items have actually been acquired. If the subscriber wants to acquire four items in one week and none in each of the next three weeks, he is charged not only the monthly subscription price but also for the three additional items chosen in the first week, even though the monthly subscription technically covers four items. In subscription models of this kind, if the subscriber does not take a specified amount of content at a specified time, the right to take that content is no longer covered by the subscription fee.